DebtWatch: Weasel Words

Here on the Homestead we have always been debt-averse. We don't use credit cards. Our only debts are our home loan and a student loan, and we're working to pay these off at a much-accelerated rate. Recently we have started using the Dave Ramsey Envelope System to reduce our discretionary spending, and so far it is working wonders; freeing up more money to save for future goals and attack those debts even harder. We are a long way from being rich, and many of our goals still look difficult to achieve, but at least we don't have the constant feeling of speeding toward an imminent fiscal catastrophe.

Not so our Federal Government.

As is well documented by fiscal gurus like the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and their sobering IOUSA web video, our nation faces a debt-fueled economic catastrophe in the not-too-distant future unless we radically change our ways.

The largest contributor to our projected national debt is rising health care costs (and the subsequent effect on Medicare and Medicaid spending). One of the frequently cited rationales for health care reform is cost control.

Despite the lip service being paid to cost control, the health reform measures currently being considered will not effect meaningful cost control, as the chief of the Congressional Budget Office recently testified before Congress.

The CBO recently published a Long Term Budget Report that analyzes projections for federal spending, revenue, and debt through 2035 and beyond. They projected alternative scenarios, reflecting different legislative possibilities, but all of the scenarios have one thing in common: the federal debt grows faster than the nation's economy. This is unsustainable. Another common thread: the longer we wait to enact reform, the worse the problem gets.

As the health care reform debate intensifies, pay particular attention to "weasel words" - little qualifiers they throw in to make their statements technically true, but maintaining a misleading overall impression.

Here are a few I've heard from the Obama administration over the past couple of weeks, along with the plain-English translation.

"Deficit-Neutral:" We're still racing toward fiscal catastrophe at the same speed, but at least this bill isn't making things worse.

"Won't add to the deficit for the next ten years:" All the costs are being deferred. Please don't ask us what happens in year eleven.

How's that for Audacity? A massive, 1.5-trillion dollar "reform" plan, with a huge expansion of government power and control over our lives. It doesn't actually solve the problem, or even promise to do so. But at least we're getting a promise that this enormous new program won't make the problem worse... at least not until some other clown is in office to take the blame and deal with the mess.

And remember, these less-than-impressive goals are just the sales pitch promises for their wonderful new plan. Based on past Washington performance, I'd say the odds of this plan living up to the promises aren't all that strong.